5. Plan and Practice Improvements

First we provide the views from the interviews with iwi staff where they reflected on how they would improve their IMP if they were to revise it.

Iwi views for improving future IMP’s

Most respondents were confident they could improve on the first version of their Plan.

“We have changed the format (with the revised document under development). There is more depth in the values – connections to whenua and marae. Things have changed – we have introduced aquaculture marine management, rāhui and conservation issues, and expanded the scope of the document. We hope the new Plan will be a good guide to councils and developers of what our values are – and how we relate them to the environment and our decision making.”

“There was a lot more detail in the original.”

“The next one is the next step up. It also has policies – a new approach, a more holistic approach. The earlier version just provided guidelines – now we have policies.”

“There has been a lot of change since the original was developed.”

“The timeframe could have been streamlined a bit better – although some of it has been outside of our control. Release delay has been an issue.”

Several respondents stated that the main area for improvement was for hapū to be included to ensure their buy-in and support for the IMP.

“The first step is to identify the capacity of the hapū to become involved.”

“I see it bringing together all of all we know and ensuring our people out there know what we have … Putting it down on paper is the smaller job. Tautoko (support) and buy-in is going to be the big job. Communication from the (name of iwi organisation) will be working with representatives from the (names of tribal sub-groups). Those representatives will take it out to the people with us supporting them – rather than (name of iwi organisation) pushing it. The actual work (IMP development) will have to be done on the ground.”

A number of iwi were strongly of the view that hapū is the appropriate level for effective involvement and participation in environmental and resource management. Just one iwi was looking at the opposite strategy – to keep it more in-house in order to reduce the time taken to complete it.

“We would probably structure the process differently – we would hold it to management more in order to get it completed – there is so much pressure for Māori involvement in lots of committees that so many people are now over committed.”

Review proposals for improving the IMP

In section 3 we listed nine components of a good plan. In addition to using that ‘checklist’ of what to include in an IMP, KCSM propose the following questions be debated and answered by iwi or hapū when preparing an IMP.

1. Why do we want to prepare an IMP? Who do we intend to read and use the IMP? Answering these questions will clarify the purpose of the IMP.
2. What environmental issues do we face? Which of these issues do we want the IMP to address? Where in our rohe are these issues located? What are the causes of these issues? The answers to these questions will help explain the issues clearly.
3. For each issue – What is the result we want to see achieved? What do we need to do to achieve this result? Who will be responsible for doing this work? When do we want this work completed by? The answers to these questions will help write the outcomes (results), policies and methods for the IMP.
4. Who will have responsibility for implementing the IMP? What support and resources will they need? Who will they report to and how often? What are their contact details? The answers to these questions will help write the administration section of the IMP.
5. When do we want to review the IMP? How will we measure the success of the IMP? Who should be involved in the review? The answers to these questions will help write the review section of the IMP.

Te Raranga a Mahi (Ministry for the Environment, 2000) was prepared to assist whānau, hapū and iwi prepare environmental management plans. It contains ideas and resources to help groups prepare IMPs. For example, the team preparing the IMP may want to get an archaeologist, a planner or a GIS expert to assist. Councils can often assist by providing such support people.

Here are our suggestions to make the IMP easy to read and for people to want to read it.

1. Language – use plain language. Give a draft to someone who has not been involved in writing it, and ask them to edit the document for ease of reading and understanding.
2. Size – keep it to the point. If it is too ‘bulky’ people may not get past the cover! The rule of thumb could be the width of a thumb. Ask yourself what point are we trying to make here and are these words necessary to make that point? If not, delete them.
3. Pictures – yes, pictures do say a thousand words. Make good use of relevant maps, photos, and diagrams to get your points across.
4. Presentation – the format will make the IMP ‘attractive’ to the reader. Colour is attractive, but expensive.

Practice improvements

In the course of the review, KCSM found that improving the use of IMPs was as important as the plan itself to iwi and hapū to be effective in environmental and resource management in their area.

The iwi organisations that have been the most effective have developed good working relationships with councils and consultants. These organisations have:

• staff that are knowledgeable and experienced in environmental issues

• arranged funding for their work on the RMA

• regular meetings with their equivalent positions in council – chief to chief as well as environmental officer with council planners and consent staff.

Some iwi organisations also have an advantage of commitment and goodwill from their councils. In the following sections we discuss these aspects of effective iwi organisations.

Education and training

The review (chapter 4) has identified advantages in having skilled qualified people working in iwi organisations. These advantages include being able to build good working relationship with councils and consultants and being better positioned to develop and use their own IMP with the support of hapū.

This will require more Māori training in environmental and resource management. This is happening through the environmental courses provided by wananga around the motu. Then the challenge is to employ and retain those qualified staff.

Capacity – resourcing

The most effective iwi organisations are those that are resourced to participate. The review identified one iwi where councils of the region funded their environmental officer. Other iwi organisations were either totally self funded or partially self funded by charging councils and applicants fees for providing advice on resource consents.

Of the iwi interviewed, just three have fulltime environmental management staff – and one of those funds its staff member from iwi resources.

KCSM consider that if local and central government expect iwi to be effectively involved in environmental and resource management processes, then that involvement needs to be resourced.

Relationships – partnering

The purpose of better relationships with councils, resource consent applicants and consultants is to get better implementation of the provisions of the IMP. The relationships need extra work when staff on either side change. The most effective relationships operate at each level of the council and iwi organisation.

Effective implementation of an IMP

Based on this review, KCSM has identified a series of steps that iwi organisations moved through to develop and implement their IMPs. Flow diagram 1 below represents these steps. The second half of the flow diagram is focussed on the interaction with councils – the primary relationship sought by iwi for effectively participating in environmental and resource management.

The diagram shows that iwi can follow a number of different routes with end results as follows:

Box 3 – fails to implement the IMP

Box 7 – withdraws from environmental and resource management work

Box 15 – IMP is implemented with some impact

Box 20 – IMP is implemented with significant impact.

Of the 10 iwi organisations interviewed, KCSM identified that:

Two iwi had exited at Box 3 (fails to implement the IMP). These iwi had developed an IMP but had not used it. In both cases, the IMP was developed by an external consultant and was then determined not to be suitable for use by the iwi. The process to develop the IMP had not involved hapū and was not supported.

No iwi were at Box 7 (withdraws from environmental and resource management work). This reflected the way the interview sample was drawn. Through the phone survey, however, we identified a few iwi that had withdrawn from environmental and resource management work after they had developed an IMP.

Four iwi were at Box 9 (IMP implementation with limited impact). Despite their best efforts, iwi are still concerned that they have not made much progress. This position could lead on to Box 7, withdrawing from environmental work, or they could maintain their focus (Box 8) and redevelop their relationship with council (Box 11).

Three iwi were at Box 15 (IMP is implemented with some impact). These groups had well established relationships with councils and were involved with council planning and monitoring. Despite this, they were still concerned that they were still only having ‘some’ impact on environmental and resource management in their region.

Two iwi were at Box 20 (IMP is implemented with significant impact). Only one said they had moved through Box 18 (resourced by council) and Box 19 (involved in all aspects of council business) to get there.

Iwi could use this diagram to consider how far they have come in utilising their IMP and what further steps they may need to move through to improve their participation in environmental and resource management.

Summary

In this chapter we have made suggestions to improve the development and use of IMPs, including:

• debating and answering basic questions to provide clarity and focus for the IMP

• making the IMP concise, to the point, interesting and readable

• securing qualified staff and funding

• working on relationships at all levels.

Although a number of practical ways to improve the quality and use of IMPs are recommended here, KCSM consider that resourcing iwi to be involved in environmental and resource management needs to be addressed by local and central government.